Quills by Doug Wright

direction Jean-Pierre Cloutier and Robert Lepage Production Ex Machina

© Stéphane Bourgeois

Quills Are your convictions so fragile that mine cannot stand in opposition to them?

The story begins in France during the reign of Napoleon I, in the peaceful

Charenton Asylum, where the most famous resident is the irrepressible

Marquis de Sade. Abbé de Coulmier, the director of the facility, believes he

can rehabilitate this man who uses his writing to explore what is forbidden to

humans, his sexual urges and his immoral desires.

Despite the Abbé’s pervasive presence, Sade continues to get his scandalous

stories published with the help of the young laundress, Madeleine. Napoleon I

sends Dr. Royer-Collard to the asylum to silence this crazy person whose work

is jeopardizing the society’s moral foundations. But how far will he go to stop

him?

Censorship and freedom of expression collide and come face to face in this

landmark piece that questions both the responsibility of the artist when it

comes to his work's repercussions and the very definition of morality, which is

not as immutable as is often believed.

Quills, Doug Wright’s controversial work, is a collaboration of Jean-Pierre

Cloutier and Robert Lepage.

Quills

Text Doug Wright French translation Jean-Pierre Cloutier Directors & Scenic Designers Jean-Pierre Cloutier Robert Lepage Performed by Pierre-Yves Cardinal Érika Gagnon Pierre-Olivier Grondin Pierre Lebeau Robert Lepage Mary-Lee Picknell Directors' assistant Adèle Saint-Amand Lighting Designer Lucie Bazzo Sound Designer Antoine Bédard Costumes Designer Sébastien Dionne Associate Set Designer Christian Fontaine Properties Sylvie Courbron Wigs Richard Hansen Make-up Gabrielle Brulotte Production Ex Machina In co-production with Le Théâtre du Trident - Québec Les Nuits de Fourvière - Lyon La Colline, théâtre national – Paris La Comète - Scène nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne Le Théâtre français - Centre national des Arts d’Ottawa Producer for Ex Machina Michel Bernatchez Associate Production - Europe and Japan Richard Castelli - Epidemic Associate Production - The Americas, Menno Plukker Theatre Agent Asia (except Japan), Oceania Ex Machina is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Quebec's Arts and Literature Council and the City of Quebec.

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